Over 1 million change.nhs.uk visits as NHS debate hits Somerset

25 Nov 2024 03:41 PM

More than 100 people from the county visited Somerset Cricket Club in Taunton to discuss their views of the NHS

• Health minister and NHS director visited Taunton as more than 100 locals took part in debate on future of NHS
• 10-Year Health Plan roadshow will see hundreds debate health issues nationwide and ensure views from local communities shape government plan
• Over one million visits to change.nhs.uk after rallying cry was issued to entire nation to help shape 10 Year Health Plan

The biggest ever conversation about the future of the NHS hit Somerset this weekend as part of a nationwide series of public debates about how to fix the health service.

More than 100 people from the county visited Somerset Cricket Club in Taunton on Sunday, 24 November, to discuss their views of the NHS, share their experiences, and offer their suggestions for delivering an NHS fit for the future.

Health Minister Karin Smyth and NHS England’s South West regional director Elizabeth O’Mahoney both attended. They asked people for their opinions on NHS reform and how the government’s 10-Year Health Plan can help tackle disparities in the wider region.

The minister also got her blood pressure checked at the club as part of its Take The Pressure Off campaign – which encourages regular check-ups to reduce the risk of future complications. Following that, she visited Musgrove Park Hospital’s emergency department and discussed its hospital@home initiative – which allows clinicians to remotely monitor patients.

Opening the event, Health Minister Karin Smyth recently said:

I was a manager in the NHS in the South West and other parts of the country for years, and as a minister I’ve been privileged to be out and about seeing some fantastic care - but it doesn’t happen everywhere.

We want to take the very best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS, however we know we can’t do that from Whitehall.

That’s why we need your fingerprints all over our 10-Year Health Plan and we must work with you, the patients and staff who use and work in the NHS, to help inform how we fix it.

Elizabeth O’Mahony, South West Regional Director recently said:

We all know the NHS is facing big challenges and there are problems that need to be fixed but our staff also do amazing things every day.

The 10 Year Health Plan gives us a huge opportunity to innovate, learn from best practice and build an NHS fit for the future.

We are so grateful to everyone who has come forward to share their experiences and will be listening very closely to their ideas.

Last month, the government issued a rallying cry to the nation – including all 1.5 million NHS staff, patients, experts, and the wider public – to visit the online platform change.nhs.uk to share their experiences, views and ideas for fixing the NHS and to help shape the plan.

Change.nhs.uk has received over one million visits and will be live until spring, and is available via the NHS App. 

Thousands of ideas to fix the health service have been submitted, with suggestions including:

• Establishing an NHS research health company that can be used to get insights on early prevention. 
• Digital records so records from all hospitals are available to view at all GP surgeries.  
• Pop up/mobile clinics to meet surge demand for services in areas of need. 
• Stop giving out paper leaflets and sending letters, and limit this to those who do not have access to IT to reduce waste.

All submitted ideas will be carefully considered as part of the engagement process so that we can better understand the priorities of the public, patients, and people working in health and care.

It comes after the government announced a package of tough reforms recently, to cut wasteful spending and ensure the health service delivers greater value for money – so more goes back to the frontline of care to benefit patients and staff everywhere.

People in the South West – an NHS region – are being affected by a range of widening health issues. The latest data shows there were:

• over 600,000 patients on the waiting list in the South West
• nearly 60,000 patients on the waiting list at Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
• nearly 70,000 patients on the waiting list at NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board
• nearly 150,000 patients waiting for diagnostic tests and scans in the South West
• over 10,000 patients waiting for diagnostic tests and scans at Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
• over 19,000 people waiting over a year in the South West
• over 1,700 people waiting more than a year at the Somerset ICB
• over 1,500 people waiting more than a year at Somerset NHS Foundation Trust  

At the end of September 2024, data shows:

• over 75,000 patients waited more than four weeks for a GP appointment in the South West
• nearly 7,000 patients waited more than four weeks for a GP appointment at NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board

The public engagement exercise will help shape the government’s 10 Year Health Plan which will be published in spring 2025 and will be underlined by three big shifts in healthcare:

• hospital to community
• analogue to digital
• sickness to prevention 

As part of the first shift ‘from hospital to community’, the government wants to deliver plans for new neighbourhood health centres, which will be closer to homes and communities. Patients will be able to see family doctors, district nurses, care workers, physiotherapists, health visitors or mental health specialists, all under the same roof. 

In transforming the NHS from analogue to digital, the government will create a more modern NHS by bringing together a single patient record, summarising patient health information, test results, and letters in one place, through the NHS App.

By moving from sickness to prevention, government wants to shorten the amount of time people spend in ill health and prevent illnesses before they happen.